The present invention relates in general to tool and workpiece chucks, and in particular to a new and useful pallet for the seating of interchangeable clamping jaws which are lockable to base jaws of the chuck.
Pallets having radially oriented, openfaced recesses which receive the interchangeable clamping jaws and are mutually staggered according to the spacing of the basic jaws in the chuck body are known. A pallet of this kind is disclosed in German AS No. 21 04 904. In this reference, the recesses for receiving the interchangeable clamping jaws are formed by breakthroughs machined into the plateshaped pallet and by guide strips placed laterally next to the breakthroughs. The retention of the interchangeable clamping jaws is realized by ball detents provided at the mutually facing guide strip surfaces and, when the interchangeable clamping jaws are in plane contact with the pallet, engaging wedgeshaped longitudinal grooves provided in the pallet's side surfaces.
Since an extension of the interchangeable clamping jaws which project in the axial direction, protrude into the breakthroughs in the pallet, an extremely accurate guidance in the axial direction is necessary when inserting, as well as removing, the interchangeable clamping jaws into or from the pallet. Such accurate handling is impossible with manipulators, these pallets, despite their relatively great mechanical sophistication, are not usable for mechanized jaw changing. Above all, however, this design has the disadvantage that the pallet must be adapted to the shape of the interchangeable clamping jaws respectively to be used, and they can only be inserted into the pallet in a given clamping position. Accordingly, an appropriately designed pallet is needed for each different set of interchangeable clamping jaws. This, in turn, requires a large pallet inventory.